Resetting SMC won’t alter things here.
Panic crashes are hardware related either RAM or drive. Drive is the more likely issue as RAM is tested during POST, but the drives virtual RAM space is likely suspect.
I would try booting up on an external bootable drive to see if that worked. With the drive plugged in (FireWire, USB or Thunderbolt) reboot the system and press the Option (⌥) key to start up to Startup Manager, which allows you to choose other available startup disks.
Reference: Mac startup key combinations
There is likely an elephant in the room as well ;-{ Thats your drives SATA cable is likely having problems which could also be a factor here besides the drive its self. Your Hard Drive Cable Is A Ticking Time Bomb. But, before we worry able it are you able to boot up on the external drive?
crwdns2934105:0crwdne2934105:0
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crwdns2944067:05crwdne2944067:0
I don’t have another mac product. However using transmac I loaded High Sierra on a known good SSD. Transmac shows that the drive has a 7.3GB HSF+ partition. Thats the partition Transmac extracted High Sierra into. Does this sound right?
crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0 Timbo61 crwdne2934271:0
That doesn't make sense! That sounds like the OS image file.which won't be large enough to run the installer.
Let's see if you have an alternative. Do you have a TimeMachine backup of your system?
crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0
I do not have a TimeMachine backup. Fortunately, there are no files on the macbook that are irreplaceable. I am completely frustrated by the machines seeming inability to respond to SMC resets. It did for a time yesterday, but today no matter what reset is attempted (SMC, NVRAM, Recovery) all that happens is the sleep light comes on and the fans spin. Some I have consulted with thing this points to an logic board issue.
crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0 Timbo61 crwdne2934271:0
I have a good SSD available, what steps are necessary to image OSX on it from a Windows 10 machine. I do not have another mac.
crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0 Timbo61 crwdne2934271:0
Do you have a friend with a Mac?
The three times I tried to use TransMac I was never able to get it to work properly.
crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0